When Mia returned to her room, she quickly arranged the messy room, took a shower and wore a baggie shirt and shorts. She fed her cat. Then, to distract her mind from wandering back to today's event, where she'd been humiliated and even called a suicidal person. She didn't want to think about how she'd also been betrayed.
Mia picked up the guitar laying in the corner of her room, she'd worked herself out to afford to buy the only instrument she knew to play. If there was one thing that helped clear her mind, it was music and rooftops. Playing guitar had been a hobby of hers right from childhood, even though she didn't have memories of her childhood before they'd moved to Whispering way street fourteen years ago, her mother had told her she'd loved playing since when she was only four years old.
Her mother had told her that the mansion, where she'd worked as a nanny for the family, they had lots of instruments, and when Mia would go there with her, she would always play with the guitar. Perhaps that was why she was so skilled at playing it now even without going to any school or taking any music classes.
Mia sat down on the fluffy sofa beside her room's window with her guitar In hand. She stared out the window and looked down at the busy night streets, where people were still outside having their nightlife. Some were drinking and laughing, while some were just passing and going about their business. She could hear the sounds of cars, horns and loud sirens in the distance.
No time is too late in the Whispering way street. Mia thought as she crossed her legs and sat in an Indian style. She placed her guitar on her laps, her long slender fingers moved along the classic guitar's nylon strings. The warm mellow tone filled the room as she began to play her favorite music with the guitar.
As she played, Mia suddenly remembered the man with gray eyes. "Such a mysterious man..." She stopped playing. And ran to her bed, quickly picking her phone from her bag she dialled Rayne's number.
"Hello." Came Rayne's sleepy voice from the other side.
"You saw him right." Mia asked hurriedly, wanting to confirm she hadn't been dreaming but he had been real on the rooftop.
"Who are you talking about Mia, I'm so tired." Rayne drawled with a tired voice.
"The gray eyes... I mean that man this afternoon who pulled me on the rooftop."
"What man? Oh that one? Yes I saw him, why?"
Mia let out a sigh of relief. 'Good thing he wasn't just a fiction of my imagination, he's too perfect to be real.' she mumbled internally.
Hearing the silence on the other line Rayne called out. "Mia, why, what about the man?" She heard Mia's voice raise a notch.
"Did you not see his face?" Mia exclaimed into the phone placing it between her shoulder and her ear as she went back towards the window sitting down with her guitar.
"I did see him, I mean not clearly, I didn't get a good look at him, I was only worried about you. Why, what about him?"
Mia shook her head pitifully as she noticed few men fighting down the street, addressing Rayne, she said. "Ok we'll talk about that tomorrow, good night." She heard Rayne's voice roar angrily and she quickly hung up before she scolded her for interrupting her sleep without giving her a valid reason.
Mia didn't pay heed to the fight down the street and drew her curtains instead, she was already used to such things. She went back to her bed and laid down. As she slept, her mind kept wandering back to those gray beautiful eyes until she was plunged into her dreamland.
'Mia!' She heard a voice call her name, and when she looked towards the person, she saw blood. She found herself standing in a pool of blood with a man's savage laughter.
'You didn't see anything, my dear.'
Mia was shaking uncontrollable, she heard the sound of her own voice that sounded nothing like hers as she said, 'I saw you...'
'Come here, my dear.' Said the man, who she couldn't make out his face. But his hands were covered in blood, and she was in that pool of blood.
As the man approached her, Mia backed away, shaking violently and crying. Her heart was beating faster against her chest as she entered a room and tried to close the door, but the man pushed it open before she could close it. And when he caught her by the hair, she woke up from the terrible nightmare that had hunted her almost every night of her life. Mia looked around her room and noticed it was morning already. She was panting heavily as she wiped away her damp forhead. It was just another silly nightmare, she assured herself as she quickly got off the bed.
Mia arrived at her morning class amidst countless wierd gazes from all the students she passed by.
She sighed. It appeared she'd built herself a reputation as the school's suicide girl now.
She couldn't count the number of people she was aquatinted with who stopped to either offer her a comforting hug, or soothing words. But the majority of people were those who shot her deathly glares, as if she'd killed their family members and went unpunished.
Some even physically bumped her shoulders on purpose, mumbling something about how they should have let her fall off the rooftop since she attempted to it, and how much of a horrible person she was for attempting to kill herself out of jealousy, though that part she didn't understand, she chose to ignore all of it. Ever since she'd been given scholarship at the Ivy Grove institute a year ago, she had been keeping a low profile as she was the poor girl amidst the rich folks.
Furthermore, yesterday wasn't the first time she'd gone to the rooftop before, it was just the first time she'd climbed that platform to clear her mind from the humiliation she'd been through in the CFJ, where they were asked to report their project assignment. She had been so excited as her story was something big that would grant her good grades and even grant her easy access into the news agencies for internship, but...
Mia spotted Rayne waving at her to come take a seat she reserved up in the third row of their class room.
"Morning. Thanks." She hurriedly took her seat beside Rayne and placed her laptop bag on the table before the class started.
"Wow, you've suddenly become a celebrity, I can only hear people uttering your name all morning." Rayne jested.
Mia sneered. "Let them, they haven't got better things to do but feed on rumors and gossips."
The class suddenly filled with low whispers and murmurs. Raising her head to see the cause of the commotion, Mia froze for a moment at the sight of the girls who walked into the class.
She heard Rayne scoff. "And here comes the witch and her lackeys."
Approaching them was the girl who was the cause of all this drama for Mia. Diane Foster, the daughter of one of the University's governance. Ivy Grove institute was one of the biggest and expensive private University in Zen city, and it had been a lifetime's opportunity for Mia to be granted scholarship, but now because of Diane, that opportunity was hanging on a thin thread.
Diane Foster was pale skinned with straight auburn blonde hair that parted in the middle, it framed her long beautiful face. She was wearing a flowery pink dress that stopped below her knees, exposing her elegant long milky legs. She looked like a delicate flower with her fox like blue eyes and a coy but flirty smile.
Diane sashayed towards Mia with two other equally pretty girls following closely behind, however standing beside Diane the other two girls beauty paled in comparison, due to Diane's soft and delicate flower like appearance.
"Mia, how are you?" Diane exclaimed, her voice tiny and soft, feminine like the light flutters on a butterfly wings.
Tightly grasping Mia's two hands in her own, she moved closer squeezing pass Rayne, who glared at her in disdain. Not allowing Mia to speak she continued to say,
"Am so sorry about yesterday's incident. I really wasn't aware that you wanted that story, if I'd known... I really would have backed out for you." She sniffed in invisible tears as she continued. "During the short time we've been friends, I have really come to admire you, I would never have hurt you like that by presenting that story if I knew you wanted the spotlight for the sake of your scholarship. I really don't care about the attention as long as you'll be happy, please don't be upset with me, I never meant for that to push you towards attempting to jump the building." She paused, then quickly added as if recalling something. "If you want we can go to professor Jasper and tell him that the story was yours and it was all a misunderstanding." Her dainty eyes glowing with tears evoking people's sympathy.
Gasps and murmurs echoed in the classrooms as the journalism major students witnessed the scene of the most popular girl, who they all admire being insulted by the school's plain jane.
"Diane is such a kind person, she's even willing to give up her story for this stupid girl."
"And she's not even asking for anything in return, she's willing to do it all for friendship."
"If I can recall, they only just recently became friends, but Diane's already willing to make sacrifices for her, how touching. I wish I could have a friend like that."
"But that Mia is so dark hearted, to think I was under the impression that she was a nice and intelligent girl despite her family's poor background, humph."
"She's just jealous of Diane, and trying to ruin her reputation, girls like that don't deserve the kind gestures from someone like Diane, it's best if Diane speaks to her father to withdraw the girl's scholarship before she ends up plagiarizing people's stories to keep her ass where she doesn't belong."
Hearing the people's words Mia suddenly understood the other part of her bad reputation.